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II.       DUSTIN, IT'S OSWIN
(            CHAPTER TWO.           )

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          TO SAY VIVIAN WAS LATE TO meet up was a bit of an understatement. She had told Oswin to meet her back in an hour and a half, yet here he was, waiting way past the time limit. Another hour to be exact. He was starting to think Vivian forgot about coming back, but something in his conscience told him to wait long— that she wouldn't forget something like that. It was definitely hard for Vivian to forget something when she came up with the idea of whatever she and others decided to do.

          Of course, it would've been smarter to use their walkie talkies, but Vivian wasn't answering Oswin and it wasn't like he knew where she was.

So, the boys just waited.

          They heard the skidding of multiple bikes coming to a stop behind the trees while they checked out the radio built by Oswin. It caught their attention, and soon enough Vivian rounded the trees and dragged Amari Todros, the ex-friend group's most open minded yet stubborn member, along with her. Stella, Marron, and Annabelle lurked behind to make sure Amari didn't try to leave. If there was only one crystal clear thing at that moment, it was that Amari wasn't pleased with meeting up as a whole again.

         "An hour and fifteen minutes late," Oswin pointed out.

          Vivian rolled her eyes and nudged Amari in front of her. "Mari refused to leave so I made her against her own free will."

          "Actually, Marron bought me ice cream," Amari corrected her only to earn a glare in return.

          "Anyway," Vivian said as she walked over to stand next to Oswin. "We brought you guys here for a reason. That reason being we are going to make up and become best friends again and boom, happily ever after."

          "Wow, so easy. Just like that," Robert asked and raised his eyebrows.

          "You want something from us, don't you," Stella stared at Oswin and Vivian in accusation. It was clear as day to Stella. What else would they want? The situation was too random, even if it was Vivian's idea in the first place. She knew her better than that.

          "No."

          "Yes."

          Oswin and Vivian looked at each other before Oswin broke the silence. "Yeah, we kinda want something from you guys. We need your help, and you know we were a great group before we split so before any of you," Oswin gave a pointed look to Stella and Amari. "Go running your mouth about how we split in the first place, please take into consideration that we want to start over."

          "I want an apology if we're going to go through with this," Amari said. She looked straight at Vivian, and Vivian groaned with a roll of her eyes.

          "You're kidding right now. Really?"

          "Yeah."

          "If Vivian apologizes to Mari, then I want an apology from Rocket," Stella pointed out.

          Robert gave her a crazed look. "Are you crazy? I didn't say anything in that fight!"

          "Bullshit."

          "Then Amari apologizes to Candy because she was an asshole in that fight too," Vivian pointed out.

          "What?!" Amari yelled.

          "Oh don't act like you didn't call her names. Remember when you told her she was too soft and wouldn't survive a day without us?"

          "Woah," Miles chuckled. "Seriously?"

          "Enough! Please," Marron interrupted the outbreak of the group's argument. "We all said things we didn't mean."

          "I didn't," Stella mumbled.

          "Stella, you called Rocket a scrawny toothpick. That's mean," Marron pointed. "How about we just... all apologize, okay? And mean it. Do not half ass it. Now please sit in a circle."

          "Candy, really? A circ-" Vivian was interrupted.

          "Yes, a circle. Now sit. Please."

All eight kids sat down in a small circle. Marron realized she had someone in the basket hanging off her bike and went to retrieve, leaving the seven others waiting for her return. Vivian decided to plop herself down next to Robert who gave her a small awkward smile once he noticed her.

"Long time no see, Rocket! You used to go to the movies to watch the new horrors all the time. How come I never see you there anymore," Vivian smiled.

Robert shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you don't go to the movies as often as you think— or you just don't pick the right days."

"Don't pick the right days? What days do you normally go on? Maybe I'll run into you one of the days."

"Um... usually Fridays during the school year. Tuesdays are the best during the summer though. I'm not sure why, but in my opinion? Best day to go."

"Really? Cool! I'll make sure to go with Oswin soon. Or maybe we could go! Like us three, or maybe the whole group if we work this out," Vivian became excited and Robert nodded fondly.

The topic of movies was to be talked about more some other time, for Marron had returned with a small glow-stick, ready for her old friends to start the apologies.

"I have this glow stick. If you have the glow stick, you're apologizing to those of us you hurt. Then, give it to the next person," Marron explained.

"We're not in elementary school, Candy," Vivian groaned.

"I don't care. You want help? This is one step closer to getting it," Marron handed the glow stick to Vivian who huffed as she took it from her hand.

She looked across the circle to Amari, who looked back at her with expectancy. "This is literally—" Vivian sighed. She looked at Amari with guilt now. As much as she hated to admit so, Vivian was sorry. "Mari... I'm sorry. You didn't deserve to be called self-centered because you're not. And I shouldn't have just tried talking things out instead of telling you that you shouldn't be a part of this group. I just got defensive of Candy, and I should've thought before I spoke."

Amari smiled a little and asked for the glow stick. "I guess I'm sorry too. I didn't mean it when I said you were annoying, you're actually pretty cool. And Candy, I am so sorry for being rude to you. You didn't deserve it."

"It's okay," Marron said softly.

"Okay, my turn," Robert stuck out his hand for the glow stick and looked at Stella. "I'm.. really sorry for calling you stupid. It was wrong, both morally and logically because you're really smart."

Stella cracked a small smile and nodded. "I guess I'm sorry for calling you a scrawny toothpick... you're just really tall and honestly it was the first thing that came to mind."

"I.. don't need the stick, but Mari," Miles started. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. It was mean to tell you that you don't think straight when you literally are one of the biggest voices of reason here."

"Oswin..." Marron said. Oswin looked up from looking at his hands in his lap. "You know you need to apologize."

"What about you and Belle?"

"Belle and Candy used their brain and didn't say things they didn't mean," Vivian smacked Oswin's arm. "Apologize."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I truly am. I'm the one who caused it in the first place, I know. If I wouldn't have caused you guys to pick sides in the first place when Vivi and I got into an argument, you guys would have never started to go at each other too. I tried to act stubborn when we all started falling apart and it got us nowhere. I was stupid for saying we shouldn't stick together anymore. I love you guys, and I need you all right now. To help. But only if you want to," Oswin swallowed the lump in his throat. God, he got so sensitive sometimes.

"We all good now," Marron asked. She scanned the group of teenagers with her eyes, finding them all more relaxed around each other than before. She missed them, for sure, and she would do anything for them to stick together once more. "Friends?"

The group agreed with of chorus of 'yes's and 'of course's. The gang was back together, and now Oswin had his help. He had all the help he needed.

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STELLA RESTED HER WEIGHT on her knees as she tampered with Oswin's radio connected to his radio tower. After Oswin explained the channels and finding a russian code on one of them, along with needing to contact his camp friend Dustin Henderson, Stella had stepped up to take control on finding the accurate frequency of the channels and angle of the tower.

Oswin and Annabelle didn't sit too far from Stella, watching her work with intensity as they treated themselves to ice pops that Marron had brought along with her for some unknown reason. Miles stood too close to Stella for her liking, because knowing him he'd try to mess with what she was doing.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the boy bent down to touch the wires in the box.

"What are these attached- ow! Stella," Miles snatched back his hand after Stella smacked it to get him away from touching anything.

"Don't touch," she mumbled.

Robert snickered from behind Miles, patting him on the shoulder. "Leave this kind of thinking to Stella, Miles."

"I was just wondering."

"You always wonder," Oswin said.

Vivian popped out from the trees on the left of the group of friends. "Hey, Rocket," she called. The tall boy looked over to Vivian with raised eyebrows. "Come here! I need help!"

"Why?!"

"Just come here, sasquatch!"

Robert shook his head at Oswin as he backed away, and turned around to continue walking. Oswin yelled out a 'good luck' to his friend with a laugh. Knowing Vivian, she was probably trying to do something that would end up with her getting yet again, another minor injury.

Robert noticed the tall tree Vivian stood next to when he got to her. Marron stood off to the side with worry etched all over her face.

"Alright. There's this fat acorn near the top of the tree. I need it—" Vivian began.

"You need it," Robert asked.

"Yes. I need it. But the shortest branch isn't in my reach so I need you to boost me up."

"...You're joking right?"

"Uh, no. You're the tallest here, so you're helping."

Marron shook her head. "Don't. She's gonna get hurt, I already know it."

"Dude, don't listen to Candy, listen to me. Boost me up. Got it," Vivian asked.

"Sure," Robert pursed his lips.

Vivian's face beamed with excitement when Robert cupped his hands to lift her up by her foot. "Okay, lift on three," she instructed after putting her right foot on his hands, steadying herself. "One... two... three."

Rocket stood up with a lift of his hands, getting Vivian high enough to take hold on a seemingly sturdy branch. "Thanks!" She pulled herself up, branch after branch until she got ahold of the acorn she wanted so desperately. In Marron and Robert's opinions, it was kinda stupid, doing all that for some acorn, but they knew she had a thing for collecting things nature so it wasn't completely odd.

"I got it," Vivian laughed.

Marron smiled and shook her head at the girl in the tree. "You're crazy."

"Crazy for acorns," Vivian replied as she climbed down gracefully. After she got down without a scratch, she opened her arms to Marron. "See, didn't get hurt."

          Marron rolled her eyes.

"Wait, Candy! Look at this cute spid—" Vivian wasn't able to even finish her sentence before Marron screamed in fear after she saw the big spider sitting in Vivian's hand. She moved it closer to Marron, who backed up in response. "Come on, it isn't scary."

"Get that thing away from... me," Marron screamed once again, the spider even closer to her than before as Vivian laughed uncontrollably, chasing after the small girl once she started running. "Candy, touch the spider!"

"No! Vivi, stop!"

"Vivian, knock it off," Oswin complained once the two got near the radio. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to knock over the tower and break it.

Vivian slowed down and caught her breath as best as she could, giggles still escaping her mouth. She let the spider go just as Robert returned as well, walking instead of running. And luckily enough, in that moment, Stella found the correct frequency channel to possibly contact Oswin's camp friend.

"Have at it, Oswin." Stella handed the connected walkie talkie to him. She moved over so he could get comfortable sitting down, and the group watched as Oswin nervously moved the walkie talkie towards him, pressing the button.

"Dustin Henderson? This is Oswin Phillips. If you hear this, please respond," Oswin spoke. He waited a minute or two before talking again. "Dustin Henderson. Dustin, this is Oswin. Do you copy?"

Oswin repeated himself a few more times before he sighed out of defeat.

"Just try a few more times," Annabelle suggested.

          "Don't you think he would've responded by now," Amari asked, crossing her arms.

          Oswin tried a couple more times though. "Dustin, this is Oswin Phillips. Do you copy?"

          There were a few short moments of silence before there was some static followed by a voice that Oswin recognized. "Oswin? What the hell are you doing on this frequency channel?"

          Oswin laughed with relief. "Dustin! Is that you?"

          "Who else would it be? Besides Suzie of course."

          "I don't know. Hey- listen, I need to tell you something and hopefully you don't think I'm crazy."

          "I definitely won't think you're crazy."

          "Before, I was showing my friend, Vivian, this. I hit a frequency that had some man on it. He was speaking Russian, but I'm not sure what it translated. I think it's a secret message."

          "You're serious?! The same thing just happened to me. I recorded it, but I don't know what it says either. I'm bringing it to my friend tomorrow."

          "What do you say we get together? Our parties," Oswin suggested. Half of his friends looked at him as if he was out of his mind.

          Robert shook his head, "Ossie, We don't even know him..."

          "But I do. He's nice, just trust me," Oswin replied.

          "Yeah! That's a great idea, we can figure this out together," Dustin said. The two boys just agreed to meet up at the StarCourt Mall, finding it to be too much work to figure out the address of the other when there were easier solutions. Plus, all the kids knew of the StarCourt Mall, so it was the easiest decision for them all.

          "Let's do it tomorrow, though. Like noon," said Dustin.

          "That's fine. You just better be showing up," Oswin responded.

          "Like I would-" And then there was static.

          Oswin, confused, looked up just as the small tower hit the grass. He lost all connection, now.

          Miles had stumbled and knocked it over, and he looked at Oswin apologetically. "I am so sorry, I tripped over a stick."

          "You tripped over your own foot," Stella corrected.

          "It's fine. Just... you guys promise to meet at the mall at noon-ish," Oswin asked.

          The friends nodded their heads in agreement. Tomorrow at noon it was. Not like a different time was optional anymore, though. Oswin stood up and fixed what Miles  accidentally messed up before taking it apart anyway, setting it back in the case he removed it from.

          Robert and Marron went home then. Robert needed to cook dinner for him and his grandmother, and Marron just needed to go buy more bandaids because she was running low. It was getting late too, so the kids' parents were expecting them home soon.

          "Do you need any help, Ossie," Annabelle asked.

          Oswin shook his head while he closed the case, and he smiled softly at his friend. "I'm fine, I got this by myself. But thanks for the offer."

          "Oh! Yeah, no problem. I'll just- go help Vivi with the tarp then," she said. Annabelle quickly turned away with a sour face, wondering why the hell she got so flustered. She saw Stella and Vivian with Oswin's tarp as they stared at her with smiles on their faces. She grabbed ahold of one of the ends and gave the girls a curious gaze. "What?"

          "What was that with Ossie," Vivian asked with a chuckle.

          "I just asked if he needed help," Annabelle said.

          "You looked embarrassed," Stella said.

          "Well... maybe I kinda was, I don't know," Annabelle only received knowing looks from her friends. "I know what you guys are thinking and the answer is I don't know. My feelings are weird okay? I'm trying to figure it out."

          "It's been almost a year of figuring it out, though," Stella muttered.

          But Annabelle caught it. "A year!? How the hell has it been nearly a year."

          "I counted? And payed attention. Your blushing isn't always discrete, either," Stella said.

          Vivian laughed, memories of multiple accounts of teasing her friends on their small crushes on others or actors in the past resurfacing as she listened to the two of them bicker of Annabelle's- quite obvious- crush on her best friend. It wasn't frequent she hung out with the two girls from before, and she would be lying through her teeth if she said she wasn't happy she would get to spend almost every day with them since the group got back together. "Yeah, I definitely missed this."

          "Who wouldn't miss this," Annabelle asked rhetorically.

          Oswin approached the scene with his stuff packed up. "Miles and Amari are going back to his place to hang out. I guess he has more comics to show off. You guys wanna go?" He set the case under the tarp, covering it up and setting rocks around the sides to keep it from blowing off and ruining his creation.

          "I wanna go! Stella, you should come too," Annabelle said, bouncing on the heels of her feet in a frenzy.

          "I don't know, I have stuff to do-" Stella began.

          "Stella," Annabelle complained. "You can do your stuff later, come on! It's not you need to study or anything."

          "Actually, I was planning on quizzing myself on the-"

         "Please."

          "If you weren't one of my favorite people, I would've lost my mind by now from how much you've interrupted me," Stella deadpanned.

          "I'm sorry," Annabelle frowned. "Wanna come, though?"

          "Whatever, sure."

          "Yes!"

          "Vivian," Annabelle began. "You coming too?"

          "Nah, not today. My, uh, my dad... today just isn't the day. Maybe another time," Vivian let out a dry laugh.

          "Alright. See ya tomorrow then," Annabelle beamed. She turned on her heel and took Stella's hand, taking the silent girl along with her to go to Miles's home.

"You sure you don't want to come over," Oswin questioned, hopeful she'd actually come.

But Vivian shook her head. "Sorry. My mom works late tonight, so my dad is forcing me to make dinner instead. It's already getting late, and if I'm any later, he'll definitely ground me."

"Okay. Go home, then. Don't want my torture buddy unavailable for my daily science joke torturing."

"Shut up, I love your science jokes. You know that."

"Awe, really? You just made my night."

"Goodnight, Ossie," Vivian rolled her eyes with a smile and wrapped her arms around Oswin for a hug.

"Goodnight, Vivi," Oswin said. "Stay safe."

"I'll make sure to go missing like that Will Byers kid did. Just for you," she joked.

"Vivian Harlow," Oswin scolded and earned a laugh from her.

"I'm Joking." And with that, Vivian left and grabbed her bike, pedaling away from what remained of her friends that were just beginning to leave.

They were having a good time. It was a good day for all of the friends, including Vivian, even if she couldn't hang out that night.

          Most of them were excited for the next day as well, wondering what adventures it would bring them. But what they didn't know, nor would they even worry about, was that things only went downhill for the group of friends from that point on. And they had no idea what was coming for them. Literally.

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HANNAH SPEAKS!
trying to figure out the relationships
is hard ngl 😔🤝. BUT I HOPE U
GUYS LIKED THIS CHAPTER EVEN
THO ITS KINDA BOOTY? I RUSHED
SOME OF IT IM SORRY!! anyway ily :D